Great friendships are not a guarantee for easy communication, and this story proves that beyond the shadow of a doubt. Mal and Aidan may think they know each other after 12 years of being very close friends, but the truth is that there are parts of Aidan he has kept hidden, and parts of Mal that he's never wanted to show. Denial of the things they each don’t want to see about the other does the rest, and you end up with a situation where each knows exactly how to hurt the other, but not necessarily how to fix it. The fact that they partly communicate via rocks (Mal is a geologist) is just too cute.

Aiden is a very lonely man. He may be rich, but his parents emotionally neglected him, boyfriends have been after his money, and he only has one real friend: Mal. Ever since college Mal has been very giving, but Aiden still cannot open up all the way. He has let Mal in as far as he dares, but he believes he is no good at relationships and is deathly afraid of ruining everything and losing the only friend he has if he goes further.

Mal has the patience of a saint, and while Aiden didn’t get what was going on, it was petty obvious to me that he loves Aiden deeply. But when Aiden runs the other way once they finally (if by accident and only thanks to masks at Halloween) connect physically, even he cannot take more. He withdraws, and ends up totally miserable.

This story is really about Aiden learning to deal with all the walls he has built around his heart to protect himself from real and imagined pain. The real miracle is not just that he is finally ready to work on his issues, but that Mal's love is deep enough to accept him as he is. If you like stories with lots of emotion and deep angst, if you enjoy one of the characters having to grow – a lot – before he can get what he wants, and if you're looking for a Christmas read with lots of drama, you will probably like this novella.




NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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Mal and Aiden have a special friendship but an accidental hook seems to have ruined everything. Aiden's panic seems to end a 12 year friendship. I had tears in my eyes reading this one and hoping that they would find a way to repair the damage. ( )